Fire Breaks Out Near White House
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Thick black smoke billowed from a fire today in Vice President Cheney’s suite of offices in the historic Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House.
Mr. Cheney’s office was damaged by smoke and water from fire hoses, a White House spokesman, Scott Stanzel, said. The vice president was not in the building at the time; he was in the West Wing of the White House with President Bush.
More than 1,000 people who work in the building were evacuated. The fire broke out on the second floor of the building around about 9:15 a.m. and was under control within a half hour, a District of Columbia fire department spokesman, Alan Etter, said.
Afterward, Messrs. Bush and Cheney appeared on West Executive Avenue, between the White House and the damaged building, to thank District of Columbia firefighters. A fire tanker nearby still had its ladder extended to a window on the blackened second floor.
The blaze was located in Mr. Cheney’s suite of ceremonial offices. His working office is in the West Wing. A Secret Service spokesman, Darrin Blackford, said the building was evacuated as a precaution. District of Columbia firefighters poured water on the blaze, broke windows and moved furniture onto a balcony.
There were no reports of serious injuries, Mr. Etter said. A U.S. Marine stationed at the building smashed a fifth-floor window to escape from the smoke and had to be rescued from the ledge, he said. The man suffered a minor cut to his hand.
The building remained evacuated while firefighters ventilated the smoke, Mr. Etter said. The displaced employees were sent to other offices or went home.
The extent of water, fire, and smoke damage was unclear.
Investigators were working to determine the cause of the blaze, Mr. Etter said. The smoke appeared to come from an electrical closet on the building’s second floor.
The Executive Office Building, a commanding structure with a granite, slate, and cast iron exterior at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street, houses the Office of Management and Budget and staff of the National Security Council and other agencies.
Originally built for the State, War, and Navy Departments between 1871 and 1888, the building was renamed in honor of President Dwight Eisenhower during the Clinton administration.
